Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R-Dutchess County, called it “sheer lunacy.” Chris Gibson, a retired Army colonel who is the Republican candidate against Rep. Scott Murphy, repeated that it is a “gimmick.” Murphy, a Glens Falls Democrat who voted in favor of the bill, attacked Gibson yesterday for his opposition to a bill designed to keep teachers employed.

Molinaro, though, saw things differently, at least here in New York.

“You have budgets that have been dopted, tax levies that have been set and jobs that have been, surplassed,” he said. “The only thing you can do is hire people back — for one year…Where does Scott Murphy or anyone else find the $1.4 billion, the state or anybody else, to keep this going?”

“Instead of focusing on real reform, we’re focused on falsely providing security to school districts, teachers and parents when the entire system is going to be gutted after next year. We’re propping up existing expenditures with one-time revenues,” Molinaro continued. “I have school superintendents calling me saying they don’t know what to do. They don’t want to spend the money becaus they’l have to fire people next year.”

He proposed reforming reimbursements for special education or eliminating testing requirements mandated by the No Child Left Behind law.

“You’re saying to taxpayers who adopted budgets under a given sceneario, an agonizing experience…the federal government has decided to just, after the fact, add money to the problem instead of addressing ways to gain efficiencies, cuts costs,” he said. “I understand the politics of the whole thing, but unless you dress the roots of this, it will be devastating to public schools.”

And, a bit belatedly, the Gibson campaign sent along this not-quite-concise response to Murphy’s attack.

“My wife Mary Jo and I are committed to public schools. Our children go to the same public school that I attended years ago, Ichabod Crane. We are proud and impressed by the hard work and dedication of the teachers there and throughout the 20th district. Teaching is a calling to serve and I enjoyed the three years I taught at West Point in the 1990s. My family clearly understands the importance of education. The problem with this latest bill is that it was not budgeted and paid for in full. In fact, most regrettably, we have no federal budget for the first time since 1974 due to an unconscionable lack of leadership. Without a budget you cannot set priorities. This Congress has no plan for job creation and deficit reduction. The latest jobs report released today continues to highlight the failure of the tax, borrow, and spend policies that Scott Murphy has consistently supported once he went to Congress to represent us last year. It’s clear that rather than more congressionally sponsored bail-outs, we need to remove the impediments to growth through targeted tax and regulatory relief. That’s how we will grow the private sector.

“Speaker Pelosi called Scott Murphy back to Washington this week to continue these failed policies and unfortunately he continued his record of voting yes for unpaid taxpayer-financed spending. As the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office confirms, this bill violates “pay-as-you-go” budgeting (something that in the past Scott Murphy has voted and said he supports) and adds another $12.6 billion to the national debt. Further, it raises taxes (roughly $10 billion) in the middle of a recession. That is never a good idea and is sure to stifle job growth further hurting American families. Moreover, since our state government and school districts have already budgeted for the year, this unpaid for additional money is a temporary patch that will not be available next year and comes with the usual strings attached from Washington that will disrupt and delay necessary long-term budgeting. As for property tax relief coming from this bill, that is highly doubtful. Counties, school districts, and towns are already working next year’s budget and they know this money will not be available then. This was an election year political gimmick at the expense of our children who will inherit this debt if we do not restore fiscal responsibility in our budgeting. It will be interesting to watch the political endorsements and campaign contributions following these votes. Meanwhile, we still have too many neighbors out of work and a debt that is spiraling out of control. We need a change of policies and leadership if we are to restore our prosperity and future job opportunities.”

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Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.